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The Charlotte Jewish News - May 2014 - Page 8 The “Small” Day School Moniker Is Outdated By Lynn Raviv Many believe that small Jewish day sehools are not strong enough players supporting the goal of Jewish eontinuity. This paradigm needs to shift. Small day sehools are dynamie and are eritieal play ers in strengthening Jewish iden tity and developing Jewish literaey whieh enables Jewish eontinuity. What is the differenee between what a Jewish day sehool student learns in a larger Jewish sehool and a smaller sehool? In our small sehools, we offer our students an environment where they are fully immersed, positioning them to eonneet with Jewish texts and ar- tifaets of Jewish eivilization, gain a strong grounding in the Hebrew language, and engage with values and beliefs that our Torah teaeh- ers. Our eurrieular programs are no different from the ones of larger Jewish day sehools. Mainly, the issue is the label. M MANN TRAVELS YOUR NEXT JOURNEY BEGINS Stop by Any Area Mann Travels Office to REGISTER FOR A TrIP VALUED AT UP TO $3000! 704.556.8322 Park Road 704.5424242 Blakeney Village 704.541.0943 Arboretum 704.892.9020 Lake Norman you deserve beautiful 704-542-8686 Ditesheim COSMETIC SURGERY youdeservebeauty.com “small.” This is an inaeeurate de- seription for nothing we do is truly small. In the RAVSAK Jew ish eommunity day sehool net work, eomprising 130 sehools throughout North Ameriea, ap proximately one-third have enroll ments of fewer than 100 students. The value eonsideration should not be in number of students en rolled eaeh year. Instead, eonsider how many years the sehool has been in existenee and, in those years, how many students have had the benefit of their Jewish day sehool program. I will use the N.E. Miles Jewish Day Sehool in Birmingham as an example. We have been in exis tenee for 41 years. In those 41 years, we have edueated almost 1,000 students in K-8. If those 1,000 students had remained in Birmingham, married and raised a family, our 1,200 Jewish family eommunity would be mueh greater and we would, under eur- rent thinking, have a large Jewish day sehool. But that is not the ease. Instead, many of these alumni live in other eommunities, mainly in the large metropolitan areas, where they are strongly impaeting Jewish life. We have edueated a great number of students who have made ex traordinary eontributions to Jew ish life, not only in the United States, but all over the world. We are not the staid sehool that many think beeause we are small. We are a dynamie eommunity seeding other eommunities. Our alumni ean be eounted among those who feel deeply about the eontinuity of our people and who are making a differenee in Jewish life today. How do I know this? We, along with other sehools, have traeked alumni and know what they are doing. Researeh eorroborates our findings; data from a study eon- dueted by Steven M. Cohen eon- eluded that “40% of young leaders in their 20s and 30s in volved in the non-establishment seetor of Jewish startups and 38 pereent of those working in the es tablishment seetor (synagogues. Federations, long-standing Jewish organizations) had reeeived a day sehool edueation.” Are small sehools not partiei- pants in this extraordinary pur suit? We are all in this important holy work together, small and large Jewish day sehools. I know that it does not matter that a day sehool alum matrieulated in a CIDS Charlotte Jewish Day School small or large sehool, beeause the outeome is what is important. Our alumni go into the world to strengthen Jewish life alongside other day sehool alums. Jewish day sehools in small eommunities faee tremendous ob- staeles to stay viable. We have a smaller base from whieh to reeruit students. We have a smaller donor base. Hiring experieneed and exeeptional faeulty, espeeially Judaie and Hebrew instruetors, is always diffieult. But what would a small Jewish eommunity look like without its day sehool? What kind of rabbinie presenee would we be able to maintain? What will happen to our synagogues without strong rabbinieal support? What will happen to the Jewish population of our small eities? Our Federation gets a number of ealls from individuals who are eonsidering interviewing in Birm ingham for a eareer move and many ask if we have a Jewish Day Sehool. Without our Jewish day sehool, the Jewish population of Birmingham would dwindle and over the years, our numbers would elip well below 5,000. This has happened in other areas in the South. Can the Jewish people afford sueh a demographie ehange? If the large metropolitan areas are the only plaees that Jewish people live, and so many smaller eommu nities no longer have a Jewish presenee, I shudder to think what might happen. If a large pereent- age of Amerieans have never met a Jewish person, what might that lead to? Anti-Semitism is not a dying disease. There is a strong ease to be made for sehools in small eom munities, as the role we play is far from “small” in our importanee to the future of our people. We eon- tinue to provide a robust seeular and Jewish studies program, ded- ieated to preparing Jewish leaders of the next generation. And we are vital to sustaining Jewish eommu nities around the eountry, helping to ensure that undersized Jewish populations do not eease to exist but rather eontinue to eontribute to eommunities big and small. ^ Reprinted with permission of the author. Sixth Graders in Davidson Create Holocaust Museum The 6th grade class of Community School of Davidson cordially invites you to attend our 7th annual Holocaust Memorial Museum Friday, May 30, 9 AM-4 PM Monday, June 2, 4-6 PM This event is open to the public. Community School of Davidson 565 Griffith St. Davidson, NC 28036 704-896-6262 Exhibits are appropriate for only those in the 6th grade and up.
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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